very simple, AK dap offers good functionality, stable system and very good sound all packed in slick expensive looking body.
DX50 looks like has a lot going for it but... after reading endless reports about bugs, freezes and similar i feel too much pain would kill its sound and else for me. i wish iBasso worked out system firmware before rolling out to the market because excellent sounding player gets killed by endless hickups.

just an opinion, i am still tempted but bugs really scare me, are there ants too?

As everything that you read about on the internet, you have to average it out.

I don't think there's that much negative feedback towards the DX50.

Have you read any other DAP appreciation threads that describes them as the holy grail? :)

very simple, AK dap offers good functionality, stable system and very good sound all packed in slick expensive looking body.
DX50 looks like has a lot going for it but... after reading endless reports about bugs, freezes and similar i feel too much pain would kill its sound and else for me. i wish iBasso worked out system firmware before rolling out to the market because excellent sounding player gets killed by endless hickups.

just an opinion, i am still tempted but bugs really scare me, are there ants too?

At this stage in its life (three firmware updates in) how good was the UI/firmware for the AK?

Checking the iBasso website, the DX100 firmware was last updated in April this year, and that was the 8th revision. How does the current DX100 UI/firmware compare to the AK's?

I have no idea, my DX50 is my first proper 'audiophile' DAP. The whole user interface experience isn't anywhere near as good as I had with my iPhone/iTunes, but the DX50 sounds (subjectively?) a lot better - and can play FLACs, which counts for a lot :)

iRiver didn't have their firmware worked out either and they lied about implemting gapless. It took a Russian to hack the ak120 firmware to get it for the AK100. $239.00 and you are getting a dac that is, IMO, as good as in some ways better than the AK100. That isn't much money if you really think about it and then think about what you are getting. I still enjoy the AK100, again only after bypassing the 22ohm resistor, but when looking at the price difference and the couple of additional details the DX50 has, if I was to choose between the two, it would be an easy choice. I also like that I can use the DX50 as a dedicated source into another dac, like the DB2 with its duel 8740 dacs and balanced output.

Couple the DX50 with the RSA Intruder, The Lightning, SR71A or B, iBasso PB2, Lyr, a small tubed amp that sound like a million bucks that I got in Shanghai, and on and on, and you have got some fun on your hands and in your ears.Edited by jamato8 - 10/17/13 at 1:05pm

mates, i am not bashing dx50, no effing way i would do thos, i was just overwhelmed by bug reports on this forum... Glad to hear from you because dx50 looks like a killer for the price so i am just carefully studying my options.

Just as an FYI, I have a decent number of ogg files, and my music files are all stored at the root of my sd card, so browsing by folder - not so much.

So I emailed iBasso, basically explaining my issues, that it doesn't read the meta-data, and that includes album cover images. The second issue is annoying, the first makes my music unbrowsable (at least the ogg files). I was hoping to get an idea of when a fix would be implemented, so I know if I should transcode my **** or not.

The second was a suggestion that they add images to the artist browsing section. I know they say that it would slow it down, but browsing by album doesn't really present slowness issues, so....

The response I got was kind of comical:

Hi,

Thank you for your email.

The DX50 can play OGG. OGG's ID3 will be supported in the future firmware.

Sincerely

LOL. I mean, actually SAID in my original email, the files play, but I can't browse them for ****. And that's what I get in reply. I know from past experience with iBasso that a lot of it is language barrier. But on the plus side, they're going to fix the ogg issues.

On the Minus, that will be sometime between now and the apocalypse.

I am hoping they err towards the former. Perhaps in this imminent firmware release?

very simple, AK dap offers good functionality, stable system and very good sound all packed in slick expensive looking body.
DX50 looks like has a lot going for it but... after reading endless reports about bugs, freezes and similar i feel too much pain would kill its sound and else for me. i wish iBasso worked out system firmware before rolling out to the market because excellent sounding player gets killed by endless hickups.

just an opinion, i am still tempted but bugs really scare me, are there ants too?

Yes, no doubt the DX50 is not completely stable. But it is totally usable. I'm burning in the player and as long as u do not browse with songs too often, my player can go on playing all day for burning in purpose. Am happy with it in stability wise.

Don't know what the deal is, I have it running for days without any issues and truly enjoying this little bugger, for the price I feel I am having a heck of a bargain. The sound is just great, headphones with it just truly shines. It's not even an hesitation, truly glad I bought it.

Same here...I have been running firmware v1.2.0 since it was released and all functions have been working perfectly for me. Only things I am looking forward to on the next update is the ability to add a complete album to a playlist and the addition of a scrollbar. Playlists are working just fine, OTG works perfectly and the only bug that I notice consistently is that when playing All Music randomly, it takes about 60 seconds to completely shut down. I have mp3, flac, and wav files and all show and play just fine.

Edit: By "show" I meant the files show, not necessarily all the album art as many of my files are .wav, however album art is of no importance at all to me as I listen rather than watch.Edited by HiFlight - 10/17/13 at 4:51pm

I'm very happy now with my DX50 and UE900 (with plusound custom silver+copper cable). Great soundstage bass and highs. I've let my Iphone be 'a phone', and my DX50 be A music player. And what a great music player.